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Savannah Feed the Hungry created in wake of personal loss

Mary L Edwards, been volunteering with the program for 15 months, her average work day the program goes from 9am till 7pm. When shes not giving out food she spends extra time at the center scrubbing and cleaning.

Joseph Jacob/For the Savannah Morning News Christian Warm shows off some of the bread he was helping give out at a recent Savannah Feed the Hungry food giveaway.

Tracy Underwood, currently unemployed but has been volunteering with the program for four months.

He was named salesmen of the year twice and was living well off a six-figure salary. He bought a brand new car, his first, and a house for his wife and four children.

Around Thanksgiving one year, about the time when the automobile industry took a turn for the worse, Gilliard arrived at work to learn he’d been let go along with 37 other employees.

“After working all my life I had to give it all up. I had two pieces of bread and a piece of bologna in our refrigerator,” Gilliard said. “I’ve been on that side. I guess you could say Feed The Hungry was born from those two pieces of bread and a piece of bologna.”

Gilliard, a minister, established Savannah Feed The Hungry three years ago with the long-term goal of giving the community a hand up, not a hand out. Operating out of the Life Center in Garden City, the organization supports the area’s in-need through food giveaways, clothing drives and educational programs — along with a bank of 16 computers to encourage enrollment in online college classes or to apply for jobs. Through the University of Georgia they also offer a culinary class to teach locals how to cook more efficiently while saving money.

With perishable donations from across the state they have served more than 25,000 in 2011 and an impressive 4,000 on a single day earlier this month.

“Nobody should have to go hungry,” Gilliard said of the homeless and starving he’s seen in his tenure. “People live in the woods, under the bridge. That’s not acceptable.”

Vaughn Hollingsworth, 52, an Atlanta native who moved to Savannah to care for his dying mother before she passed away in 2009, stood waiting for food earlier this month.

“I’d been staying out in the woods in a tent behind SCAD before all of these debilitating things happened,” said Hollingsworth, who has severe arthritis in his legs.

Now living in a trailer with two others, Hollingsworth is thankful for Savannah Feed The Hungry.

Weekly food and clothing giveaways every Wednesday and Friday draw large crowds from as far as Ellabell, where Laurie Rogers, 48, lives.

“This helps,” Rogers said. “There’s are a lot of people, they’re not going to tell you, but they’re hurting for food.”

Rogers, who worked at a tag and title business but has been unemployed since 2008, now cares for her mother and father while balancing a tight budget with her husband. While holding bags of food, she thanked Gilliard for what he’s doing for the community and addressed an issue she’s seen among friends and others.

“Don’t be too proud,” she said. “I’ve got my pride and I’ve had to loosen it. Everyone’s hurting right now.”

LEND A HELPING HAND

To volunteer or donate, call 912-349-0774 or go to savannahfeedthehungry.com.